Graduation
by Jediempress
Summary: The day many of them thought would never come has arrived, Sora and the younger Destiny Islands crew have graduated. This causes several of Sora's Radiant Garden family to think about their own accomplishments. Present for Sassy-Aloo.


This is gonna read funny but I based it off of several graduation parties I have gone to. It's rather all over the place. Anyway, this is for Sassy's graduation. I'm so proud of you, babe!

Graduation

"Oh, man, Riku, she invited my _physics_ teacher!" Sora tried to hide behind his best friend's chair. "Why did my mom have to invite teachers to my graduation party? I don't want to see them again."

"I think the better question is why Mr. Kotter and Miss Brown decided to actually come." Riku replied, taking a sip from his punch.

Sora straightened out. "That is a good question."

"Wasn't physics the class everyone was convinced you were going to fail?" Cloud asked softly from beside Riku.

"Yeah," Sora confirmed slowly. "Why?"

"Obviously, she invited him to show her confidence that you would pass the class." Sephiroth explained, standing behind where Riku and Cloud sat. "And from what I hear, your Composition teacher is here because she went out of her way to make sure you did well in her class."

"Oh."

"Sora!" Seiya called out, waving her son over. "Come here! Oh! Riku, too!"

Sora groaned and moved around the chair as Riku handed over his glass to Cloud and stood. "This better not be for another picture."

"I don't know why you're complaining." Riku flicked his bangs. "You like getting your picture taken."

Sora grumbled under his breath as the two walked over to where Seiya and the teachers stood. Given the physics teacher's reaction to Riku, it was obvious the man was rather fond of the silver-haired teen. He clasped the tall male's shoulder enthusiastically and after a few minutes of conversation, the slightly graying man glanced in the direction of Cloud and Sephiroth.

"Why do I have the feeling I'm about to be called over?" Cloud muttered, not looking at Sephiroth.

"It might have something to do with being married to my brother." The former general commented dryly. "But don't take my word on that theory."

The blond snorted and sighed as he was, indeed, waved over. "Why don't they want to meet you?"

Sephiroth shrugged. "Many of them already have."

Cloud shot him a look before leaving to join the small group. Riku held out his hand toward him with a soft smile and he took it, nodding politely as Seiya made animated introductions. He was clearly uncomfortable but Riku kept his fingers firmly laced with his.

Sephiroth smirked at this and turned away. He had made his appearance and now he was going to disappear for awhile. Seiya had given him the rough time table so he knew he had an hour before his presence was necessary again.

"Where are you running off to?"

"I always have an exit strategy, Zack." He replied, not turning to face the speaker. "You know how much I loathe parties."

"You're only leaving if you take me with." Leon spoke flatly. "I have to hate these things at least as much as you do."

Zack laughed loudly and patted Leon's chest. "Now you know Sora would never forgive you if you left."

Leon scowled but did not protest.

With a faint, amused sigh Sephiroth motioned for the two to follow him into the house. He led them through the small kitchen and past the main room to the front door. From there they headed back outside.

The street was empty, only the noise from the people filling the backyard drifting around them. Sephiroth leaned against the front of the house, resting his head back. Leon took up a position on the porch railing and Zack stood casually beside him.

Zack folded his arms. "You know, I don't remember any of my graduations being treated like a big deal. I guess my grammar school one but that's probably because we were all country folk and not too many of us finished school."

"Edea would make a special dessert each year for the kids who finished their courses." Leon spoke quietly.

"I never attended regular school." Sephiroth mused. "Hojo never acknowledged me when I completed various levels of education. It was always because of him that I was so intelligent and had nothing to do with the effort I put into it."

Zack snorted. "But I bet you heard about it when you didn't excel."

Sephiroth brought his head down and studied the wood beneath his shoes. "I learned by the age of five not to fail."

"Man, I don't even want to contemplate what he did to you."

"You could not begin to imagine."

"There you guys are." Riku and Cloud rounded the side of the house. "Sora is convinced you all ran away to my house."

"I was going to," Sephiroth admitted. "However these two intercepted me."

"Good," Cloud set his elbow on the stair rail. "I never would have forgiven you if you hadn't taken me with."

Zack laughed. "That's what Leon said!"

"Oh, come on, guys." Riku gave each of them annoyed looks. "Sora may be acting all indifferent but this is a really big thing for him."

"We know." Leon assured him. "Which is why none of us have actually left."

Riku moved to stand near the opposite side of Cloud, closer to Zack and Leon. "You know, sometimes I regret missing out on all of this. I mean, I hated school and going homebound was definitely the best option but still… I don't know."

"Feeling nostalgic at your old age?" Zack smirked down at him.

Riku narrowed his eyes and stuck out his tongue in a very childish manner. Zack and Leon snickered while Sephiroth shook his head at the antic. Cloud simply quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I guess we should get back there, huh?" Zack rubbed at the back of his head.

"Hey, guys!"

They looked down the street to see Selphie barreling at them in a dead run. Several feet behind her, Kairi, Tidus and Wakka walked in a group. Kairi and Tidus must have finally managed to get away from their own graduation parties.

"Who do you think she's going to glomp this time?" Leon asked warily.

"You're using their terminology." Sephiroth noted with amusement.

Before Leon could comment, Selphie threw herself on Riku's back with enough force to make him stumble forward. The silvered teen made a noise as he shot a hand out to stabilize himself on the rail. "Oh my gosh, Riku! Can you believe we're graduates?"

"I can't breathe, Selph."

She released him and bounded up the steps to hug Zack around the waist. "It's _so_ awesome you guys made it! Sora was so worried you wouldn't and it was so important to him though he pretended that it wasn't."

Kairi, Tidus and Wakka arrived, greeting Riku and Cloud. Tidus rolled his eyes at the girl still clinging onto Zack. "You know, Selph, it's a really good thing everyone here knows you're a fangirl."

"Yeah, mon," Wakka chuckled. "I wouldn't risk a Gunblade to the head."

"I can't help it! He's so dreamy!" Selphie released Zack and grinned at Leon. "Leo's sexy but he's not fun like Zacky is."

"So what are you guys doing out here?" Kairi asked the group though her attention was on Riku. "Too many people back there for you?"

"You know us too well," Sephiroth replied softly. "We were about to return."

"Oh, good!" Selphie took Leon's hand and tugged him forward. She took hold of Zack with the other and pulled them down the steps with her. "We can all go together!"

Sephiroth lifted an eyebrow in amusement as he moved to follow them. He flicked his eyes toward Kairi when he passed her. "How did your gathering go?"

The auburn-haired girl sighed and fell into place beside him. "It was boring and formal just like I thought it would be. Dad did apologize for it and said that next tomorrow I can have everyone over for smaller party. Wakka came for a little while before he went to Tidus'."

"That was nice of him."

The redheaded teen shrugged from behind them. "I had time and I figured she'd want to see a friendly face, ya."

"My parents didn't do anything special." Tidus had his hands in his pockets. "Mom gushed on about how her baby was so grown up and Dad complained that I needed to start acting like a man now."

"I'm glad I didn't have to deal with that," Wakka shook his head. "Getting that blitzball scholarship last year was a blessing in more ways than one, ya."

The group rounded the house to rejoin the rest of Sora's guests. Selphie had released Zack and Leon to jog ahead to catch Sora up in a fierce hug. Seiya finished speaking to whoever it was that she was and hurried over to them.

"Oh, hello, guys!" She pulled Kairi into an embrace and smiled at Wakka. She pulled away to ruffle at Tidus' blond hair, getting teary eyed. "Oh, I'm so proud of all of you kids!"

The blond grinned in slight embarrassment but looked rather happy at the affection.

"Well, since everyone's here…" Riku started and Seiya nodded. He gave Cloud a brief kiss before he and the petite woman disappeared into the house.

Kairi tucked some hair behind her ear and brushed at her white dress. "It's too bad Penelo couldn't come. Sora would have really liked that."

"Riku says those two are getting really close." Tidus waved to a few people he knew.

"They are." Zack confirmed. He walked over to one of the coolers for a soda and tossed ones at Tidus, Wakka, and Cloud. Sephiroth had wandered off to retrieve a glass of punch for Kairi. "She thought about it but she had too much to do that really couldn't wait."

Sora looked over at them and motioned them to come over. Kairi, Tidus, and Wakka immediately did so. The older men lingered beside the patio.

"So what are Riku and Seiya doing?" Zack downed some soda.

"They made a rather impressive cake last night while Cloud and you were out with Wakka searching for graduation presents." Sephiroth explained, sipping on his water.

Sora and Kairi broke away from the conversation they were having, leaving Tidus and Wakka with the two men. Selphie had disappeared. The pair joined the off-worlders, both seeming a bit tired. Kairi shook her head with a weak smile. "I have no idea what any of that conversation was about."

"Who are they?" Zack looked over at the other teenagers, Wakka speaking rather animatedly to a barrel-chested man.

"They are the blitzball coaches." Sephiroth answered. Before Zack could ask how he knew that he explained. "I was introduced to them the first time I was here. Riku and the others dragged me to observe a game."

"You know," Sora commented, dropping down to sit on the grass. "As much as I love all of this attention, I really want this party to end."

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just admit that you want to sit locked in your room, talking to Penelo?"

Sora gave her a scandalized look which was weakened by the faint blush that colored his cheeks. "That's not why!"

"Oh, its okay, Sor," Zack laughed and ruffled the seventeen-year-old's hair. "You're with friends; we know what it's like."

Sora pouted and batted the raven-haired man away. "Yeah, I wanna call her but that's not why I want all these people to go away. Heck, I don't even know why half of them showed up. They never bothered to try talking to us before."

"Oh, just think of all the presents and money." Zack advised. He suddenly frowned and tilted his head. "You know, I didn't get any presents or anything when I got into SOLDIER. Angeal gave me this really cool watch with all this survival stuff on it when I made Second and when I made First, well…" he glanced over at Sephiroth, "it didn't really matter anymore."

Leon watched him a moment With great subtlety, he tapped the taller man's elbow and gave him a faint smile. Zack shot him a brilliant smile back and brushed at Leon's jaw, not caring that they were surrounded by complete strangers.

"Did they do anything cool in Garden, Leon?" Sora picked a blade of grass.

Leon shrugged. "There was a small ceremony and a dance. If you had family, they were allowed to attend."

"Did Zell's parents come?" Kairi asked, glancing over at the sound of Selphie's loud laughter.

"I don't remember." The scarred man's brow furrowed in thought. "I didn't pay any particular attention to that at the time."

"Didn't you meet Rinoa around that time?"

He nodded.

Sora leaned back on his hands. "You know, it's kinda interesting. Leon met Rinoa when he finished school, Zack met both Aerith and Cloud around the time he got promoted, Kairi and Hayner just got together and I've got Penelo… we all met our first big loves around the same time in our lives."

"Oh, that's really sweet!" Selphie appeared out of no where beside Sephiroth. She grinned down at the spiky brunet. "So Penelo is your great love?"

Sora sputtered a bit but was spared having to say anything by Seiya and Riku's return to the patio.

Seiya clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention as Riku set the cake he carried on the picnic table. "Okay, everyone! One more thing and you can all go home!"

There was a ripple of laughter and Sora closed his eyes a second, muttering, "Thank goodness."

He leapt up to his feet and wiped at his butt as he went over to the table, followed by Kairi and Selphie. Cloud moved to stand with Riku and Sephiroth, Zack and Leon lingered behind. Tidus and Wakka met up with the other teens, Wakka joining up with Riku and Cloud behind the table.

Seiya pulled Sora to her, the petite woman getting caught in his shadow. She grinned brightly at her son kept her arm wrapped around one of his. "I am so proud of my baby! It was a bit iffy there and with his partner in crime away," she threw a glance at Riku, "I'll admit I was a tiny bit worried but I always knew he'd be fine! My boy is so…"

She got teary and had to stop for a moment. Riku chuckled and handed her a Kleenex. She quickly thanked him and dabbed at her eyes. "Sorry, sorry! I'm just so happy and proud of all my kids!"

She reached over and somehow forced Kairi, Selphie and Tidus into her embrace. All four teenagers looked rather embarrassed at the display but went along with it. Eventually, Selphie and Tidus managed to break away but Seiya would not release Sora or Kairi.

"Ok!" She steered the two around to face the table. "Enough of this sappy stuff! Cloud, dear, help Riku cut this thing."

Cloud ignored the snickers from Zack and Leon as he followed his lover to the table. The cake was a huge sheet cake that must have taken Seiya and Riku hours to put together. It was perfectly frosted and simply read _Way to Go, Sora, Kairi, Tidus and Selphie_ in what looked like Sephiroth's meticulous handwriting.

The couple worked on cutting it while Wakka took the initiative and began setting up plates. This turned out to be a rather efficient way of doing things and it a short time, the guests were served and it was down to the graduates, Seiya, Wakka, Riku, Cloud, Zack, Leon and Sephiroth. The small group became gathered beside the table.

"Well," Riku noted, wiping some frosting from the knife he held on a finger and feeding it to Cloud. "I think Seiya and I did a fair job for a totally last minute thing."

"I wish I could bake like this," Zack sighed dejectedly. "Squall won't make me deserts."

"You're energetic enough without the extra sugar." The sable-haired man commented softly, casting Zack a side-long look.

Zack snorted and stuffed more cake into his mouth. "I don't hear you complaining at night."

Sora chuckled and looked like he was going to say something when his phone rang. An amazingly bright smile lit his face at the song that played and he quickly fished around his pocket. Upon removing the devise, he answered and began walking away. "Hi, Penelo."

Seiya giggled, bringing one hand to her mouth. "He really is all grown up."

"He's getting there." Sephiroth mildly corrected. He picked at the slice of cake he had been given and a corner of his lip curled up. "I highly doubt Sora will ever be completely grown up."

"That would be a sad day if he did," Riku added, looking at his best friend standing off near a palm tree and laughing happily as he no doubtedly was detailing all of the day's events with his girlfriend.

The others simply nodded their agreement.


End file.
